


Going Home

by notyouranswer (gorgeouschaos)



Series: Defined by Echo [1]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, One Shot, Season Finale, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:21:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22812259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gorgeouschaos/pseuds/notyouranswer
Summary: “Go home, Mr. Sims,” the paramedics tell him, but Jon doesn’t want to.
Relationships: Jonathan Sims & Everyone
Series: Defined by Echo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1646350
Comments: 6
Kudos: 96





	Going Home

**Author's Note:**

> I'm only on season two, so hopefully this isn't too inaccurate. This is just how I see Jon at this point. Hope you like it! :)

“Go home, Mr. Sims,” the paramedics tell him, but Jon doesn’t want to. He doesn’t even know if he could bring himself to right now. Home is a cold, empty apartment with spoiled milk in the fridge, a bed that’s too comfortable, and a mirror that has a nasty habit of reflecting how thin his facade is.

“I will,” Jon promises, and he doesn’t even bother to pretend that he means it.

“Go _home_ , Jon,” Elias orders him, but Jon refuses to. Jon doesn’t know if he’s capable of it. Home is a cold, empty apartment with bare cupboards, a too-full medicine cabinet, and a litany of failures written in his own handwriting in a journal shoved under his bed.

“After this statement,” Jon says, and he almost means it. 

“ _Go home_ , Jon,” Sasha pleads, but Jon ignores her. Jon can’t even make himself think about leaving. Home is a cold, empty apartment too far from the archives, too far from the carbon dioxide, too far from the still-bloody corkscrew and the people he trusts to use it.

“After I finish this,” Jon snaps, and he ignores the pain throbbing through him. 

“ _Go home, Jon_ ,” Martin says, and Jon can no longer put it off. 

Home is a cold, empty apartment with nothing to distract him from the pain-- the throbbing, deep-rooted, sick, constant pain. He doesn’t like the painkillers, doesn’t like the way his veins won’t stop pulsing with panic, doesn’t like how every noise makes him want to run. Doesn’t like how it doesn’t feel safe, not like the archive does. 

(Did.)

Jon doesn’t like home. 

Jon goes back after three days. 

He tells himself it’s because Martin makes better tea than he can. 

(Jon has a lot of practice lying to himself.)

“What are you doing back here?” Elias demands, and Jon lifts his chin, ignores the way his hands are shaking--he has been for days.

“This is my job, Elias,” Jon says. “I am the Head Archivist. And this is where I belong.”

Elias shakes his head but doesn’t comment. Jon sweeps past him and towards his office.

When the door is closed behind him and his tape recorder is before him, Jon finally feels able to take a deep breath. He reaches for a random statement on his desk-- Martin must have tidied up-- and clears his throat. 

“Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute,” he says.

(This is home.)


End file.
